1. Komar007 designed the PCB and is having them printed. He has had a prototype run done, which is being distributed for testing. Once that is tested, and the final revisions made, the GB will proceed.2. The_Beast will be having [some number of] plate designs made. Probably about 8 designs, to include ANSI winkey, ANSI winkeyless, ISO winkey, and ISO winkeyless. If we have case-integrated designs and stand-alone designs for those, that makes 8 plate designs for a base run. And I'm sure he will take requests for custom plates, such as lysol's bottom row.3. alaricljs is *maybe* doing another stabilizer buy. He is gauging interest. On a related note, if you choose a winkey layout, and use plate mounted Costar stabilizers, you can get those from WASDkeybaords.com all day.4. samwisekoi has offered to help with designing an acrylic case. WhiteFireDragon, The_Beast, damorgue and dirge are also working on case designs. As are others. If you want to use an existing case, our goal is that this PCB will fit in any current Poker/Pure case. Including the aluminum ones made by imsto, treble318, oneproduct, and Duck.

GH60 Custom KeyboardEver wanted your Poker/Pure to have a programmable controller? Did you love the different layout options of the Phantom, but wanted it in a smaller form factor? This is a 60% form-factor Geekhack custom keyboard that will be somewhat similar to the Phantom, but it will not include the function row, cursor arrows, or insert key group.

- Includes support for programmable layers.

- PCB populated from factory with all electronics, including diodes and ATmega32u4 programmable controller chip. Only switches will need to be sourced and mounted. Support for PCB-mount switches.

- Support for Poker/Pure cases, including aluminum cases from imsto, oneproduct, or treble318.

Supported Layouts:

- Normal/Standard Ansi layout- ISO layout (vertical enter key, smaller left shift, additional key to the left of "z" key)- 1.75x right shift, allowing extra 1x Fn/Mod/etc key to the right or left of the right shift key- Model M "winkeyless" style layout with 1.5x - 1x - 1.5x modifier keys on left and right sides, with 7x spacebar- lysol's proposed layout with two 1.5x modifiers on the left and 1.5x - 1x - 1x - 1.5x on the right, with 7x spacebar

The ATmega32u4 controller chipThis is the same chip as on the Teensy2.0. It is a 16MHz 8-bit AVR from Atmel.

PlatesPlates will make your keyboard will feel more solid overall and help disperse some of the typing stress. They’re optional, but most people do prefer it. Each layout will require a different plate. HHKB and winkeyless layouts can use any ANSI or ISO plate with 1.5x modifiers. I designed these so the top switch housing is removable without desoldering, which helps with swapping switches, springs, stems, lubing, or stickering later on. They can be directly dropped in to existing cases. More details on this in the next post.

The prices listed above is a ballpark. PCBs could be a tad lower, depending on quantity at the end, or possibly be a few dollars higher to account for import/VAT taxes or any other unforeseen fees. Same goes with plates and switches, it really depends on how many of each are ordered.

It would be nice if we could use the water jet since it leaves such nice edges. Lasers get the job done, but the edges can be rough. I've also heard that lasering can be expensive when doing such tight tolerances due to the gases they have to use to maintain those tolerances

My thought about the bottom row was to use 1.5 mods, since winkeyless boards are like [zoolander] Hansel, they're so hot right now. [/zoolander]

The rest of the keys would be standard ANSI, so that it would be easy to change out the keycaps. I have mixed feelings about the 1.75 right shift and the Fn key to the right of it. My Pure is setup that way, and I can use it, but I am just so used to having the full 2.75 right shift that sometimes I hit the far right key when I mean to shift.

Between the Ctrl and Alt was the logical place to put the Fn key, and why not have them on both sides, for convenience?

Windows keys and Menu key are extraneous, at least for me. I NEVER use the Menu key, and if you use Windows and need that keypress, Ctrl-Esc is the same.

Having 1.5 mods on the bottom row is also an easy way to visually distinguish that the board is a custom design, while keeping the standard layout of the other keys to make changing keycap sets trivial. If you build a Phantom with 1.25 mods, you can't easily tell the difference between that and a Filco, for instance. Yes, it has a programmable controller, and you can setup the caps lock to be off center if you like, but when you see a picture of a keyboard with 1x mods sandwiched between 1.5x mods, inside a Filco housing, you know it's a Phantom.

KiCAD is the most common choice here to do the PCB layout, and bpiphany was kind enough to put together a library of keyboard footprints that include a drawing layer that has the proper measurements for plate cutouts. KiCAD is capable of rendering this layer as a DXF file.

As far as wanting to be able to tell by sight that it's a custom KB... that's kind of silly. I'd prefer something useful over something that tells the world I'm making sacrifices in usability to make sure you know it's custom.

I wish it to just be a pcb drop in replacement for Poker. It would be best if it fits in the existing Poker cases. Only thing I care about would be able to program the 2nd layer myself since it is the only thing I don't like about the Poker. It is ok with me if it's winkeyless also of course, I have plenty of 1.5 Cherry modifier.

I wish it to just be a pcb drop in replacement for Poker. It would be best if it fits in the existing Poker cases. Only thing I care about would be able to program the 2nd layer myself since it is the only thing I don't like about the Poker. It is ok with me if it's winkeyless also of course, I have plenty of 1.5 Cherry modifier.

This is what I was aiming for. Programmable Poker replacement with 1.5 mods, that would fit into a Poker case.

I'm okay with having ISO options on the PCB, and another plate option for it. We could also have the options, just like the Phantom does, for 1.25 or 1.5 mods. At that point, this is basically a Phantom 60%, instead of a TKL (80%). I'm cool if people want that, I just had something a little different in mind. My thinking was that if we had one standard layout, like the Korean customs do, instead of the 4 options, it would be cheaper per unit.

Hazeluff, if you want the large keys split up like that, just build a Dox.

If everyone wants the ANSI/ISO option, as well as the 1.5/1.25 option, maybe we should incorporate this design (Phantom 60% with onboard programmable SMD controller and Poker/Pure case mounts) into the next round of the Phantom, as an additional PCB design. That is, if bpiphany, litster, et al. are amenable to that.

I wish it to just be a pcb drop in replacement for Poker. It would be best if it fits in the existing Poker cases. Only thing I care about would be able to program the 2nd layer myself since it is the only thing I don't like about the Poker. It is ok with me if it's winkeyless also of course, I have plenty of 1.5 Cherry modifier.

This is what I was aiming for. Programmable Poker replacement with 1.5 mods, that would fit into a Poker case.

I'm okay with having ISO options on the PCB, and another plate option for it. We could also have the options, just like the Phantom does, for 1.25 or 1.5 mods. At that point, this is basically a Phantom 60%, instead of a TKL (80%). I'm cool if people want that, I just had something a little different in mind. My thinking was that if we had one standard layout, like the Korean customs do, instead of the 4 options, it would be cheaper per unit.

Hazeluff, if you want the large keys split up like that, just build a Dox.

If everyone wants the ANSI/ISO option, as well as the 1.5/1.25 option, maybe we should incorporate this design (Phantom 60% with onboard programmable SMD controller and Poker/Pure case mounts) into the next round of the Phantom, as an additional PCB design. That is, if bpiphany, litster, et al. are amenable to that.

Well this project is like almost just a Dox. If you go for PCB mount like the poker is already, then you can accommodate a ton of layouts with just the PCB. That means 1.25/1.5 mods and ANSI/ISO/Other layouts.

So does this sound like a sensible plan? Produce a Phantom 60% board with layout options for ISO/ANSI and 1.5/1.25 mods on the PCB. Only one plate, which would reflect the design I posted in the OP for ANSI with 1.5 mods.

My suggestion was stupid in retrospect. Buying 20 of each makes them cost less per plate than 20 of one. The ones that intend to use a different layout would need to buy a plate they aren't going to use to make it 80 of that one to make it worth it.

I'm interested!In fact this is exactly what I've planned on doing for a long time, but couldn't quite get down to it.I'll contribute whatever is necessary: electrical design, programming, etc if someone makes this happen.I can also contribute my controller software (teensy-compatible) with nkro support. It basically needs good layer support and PC-side layout designer, not much work to be done.

And I support the 1.25 modifier idea. I was thinking about putting 2 Cherry MX locks between alt and ctrl on the right side which would enable choice between 4 different layers or settings, etc. which you could change by pressing/depressing the keys.

I think I would rather have the 1.75 shift + fn style as well instead of between the ctrl and alt. Only downside then though is having some big ugly gaps if using an existing Poker case with nothing between the modifiers. I will assume this will not be popular, but perhaps have the bottom row 1.5,1.5,7,1.5,1,1,1.5? It would eliminate gaps and leave 2 keys for win/menu on the right. Might be a decent compromise?